Deadlines & law changes · 2 min
The Employment Rights Act, if you employ three people.
The employment-law overhaul is written about as if every reader had an HR department. You have three staff and a kettle. Here's the 20% of it that actually lands on you, and the light-touch way to be ready.
Deadlines & law changes · Updated 28 September 2026
The honest framing first
The Employment Rights Act reforms are a multi-year programme rolling in through 2026 and 2027, and most of the commentary is aimed at employers with hundreds of staff and specialist teams. For a micro-employer the honest summary is: a handful of changes genuinely touch you, they mostly demand tidiness rather than expenditure, and the deadline energy in the headlines largely concerns provisions that don't apply at your scale. Employment law detail moves and transitional dates have shifted before — treat this as orientation and verify the current position on gov.uk or with an adviser before acting; that caveat is doing real work in this article.
The slice that touches a micro-employer
Statutory sick pay strengthening
The removal of waiting days and widened eligibility means sick pay from day one of illness, including for lower-paid staff previously excluded. For you this is a payroll-settings and cash-planning fact, not a project: short absences now carry cost from day one.
The harassment duties
From 30 October 2026, employers must take all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment, and become liable for harassment of staff by third parties (customers included) if they didn't take all reasonable steps to stop it; whistleblowing protection widens too. 'All reasonable steps' at three-staff scale means a written policy people have actually seen, a way to raise concerns, and taking things seriously in fact — not a training industry contract.
Unfair-dismissal protection after six months, from 1 January 2027
For dismissals from 1 January 2027, the qualifying period falls from two years to six months, and the cap on compensation for unfair dismissal is removed. Service already worked counts, so someone who joined you in the first half of 2026 is covered from that date. What it means practically for you: hiring carefully and documenting fairly stops being optional hygiene and becomes the safety rail.
Zero-hours and shift provisions (guaranteed-hours offers, notice of shifts) matter if you use very casual patterns — if your three staff have regular hours, this row likely isn't yours.
The light-touch readiness list
It all boils down to four simple things: written terms for each person, a one-page conduct-and-complaints note everyone has seen, payroll settings that match current SSP rules, and a habit of writing things down when HR matters come up. Documentation is your whole defence, and it takes just minutes. The tools help with this process. AI assists by drafting policy notes, terms letters, or absence logs. You don't need to buy anything from us to be prepared for this Act. We'd rather be honest than push an HR product.
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